Bitch Media - rapehttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/9785/0
enAmerican Troops Allegedly Raped 54 Girls in Colombia. Why Haven't We Heard About It?http://bitchmagazine.org/post/american-troops-allegedly-raped-54-girls-in-colombia-why-havent-we-heard-about-it
<p><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/108/294858266_4a0358f258_b.jpg" alt="a row of military boots" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p style="padding-left: 180px;"><em>Photo of American military boots via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/294858266" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a>.</em></p>
<p>There’s increasing recognition these days of the widespread problems of <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/i-really-thought-i-was-the-only-one-qa-with-military-rape-survivor-kori-cioca" target="_blank">sexual assault in the military</a>. But how does that culture of sexual violence spread out from the military to impact civilians? A <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1954834/us-soldiers-sexually-abuse-54-colombian-minors-videotape-incidents-but-will-never-be-charged/" target="_blank">new report</a>&nbsp;by an independent Colombian commission on violence reveals a troubling pattern: the report says that American military personnel sexually assaulted civilians with impunity.</p>
<p>In a rare move, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group worked together to establish a commission to investigate violence in their country. Their&nbsp;<a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1954834/us-soldiers-sexually-abuse-54-colombian-minors-videotape-incidents-but-will-never-be-charged/" target="_blank">800-page report</a>, released last month, says that U.S. soldiers and military contractors sexually assaulted 54 Colombian girls from 2003 to 2007.</p>
<p>The assaults took place largely in and around the small town of Melgar and were concentrated at the Tolemaida Air Base, according to the report, where the soldiers and contractors filmed their crimes and sold them as pornography. None of the assailants faced criminal charges, however, as they were protected by the diplomatic immunity proffered by the bilateral agreement governing their stay.</p>
<p>Renan Vega, a professor at the National University of Colombia at Bogota, authored the section of the report which focused on the U.S. military's involvement in the region. He wrote, "There exists abundant information about the sexual violence, in absolute impunity thanks to the bilateral agreements and the diplomatic immunity of United States officials."</p>
<p>In particular, Vega's report details a 2007 case, which sparked widespread outrage at the time, involving a 12–year-old girl who was allegedly drugged in Melgar and kidnapped to the military base by U.S. Sergeant Michael Coen and contractor Cesar Ruiz. The two are said to have raped the girl and uploaded film of the crime to a pornography site. When the immunity agreement prevented Colombian prosecution, Coen and Ruiz were flown back to the U.S. with promises that the duo would be tried in military court. To date, however, they faced no consequences for the acts.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/800px-torre_de_salto_tolemaida.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="382" /></p>
<p><em>Colombian troops at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Torre_de_Salto_Tolemaida.jpg" target="_blank">Tolemaida Air Base</a>, where American military personnel allegedly assaulted 54 local girls.</em></p>
<p>That's true of all the alleged assailants detailed in Vega's reporting. The U.S. forces came to Colombia by joint agreement to fight drug producers there and help the national government in their battle against FARC, which was then ongoing.&nbsp;Though the U.S. forces and employees enjoyed immunity, local citizens spoke up about assaults. According to the Colombian daily newspaper <em>El Tiempo</em>, locals filed 23 formal complaints were made about the issue in 2006, with an additional thirteen being made in 2007.</p>
<p>Despite the report's explosive revelations, the disclosures have received scant attention in the U.S. media, with <a href="http://fair.org/blog/2015/03/26/colombian-report-on-us-militarys-child-rapes-not-newsworthy-to-us-news-outlets" target="_blank">no major outlets reporting the story</a>. The website Talking About Colombia ruefully contrasts this silence to the avalanche of attention greeting recent news about DEA agents having held <a href="http://talkingaboutcolombia.com/2015/03/28/american-troops-and-contractors-who-sexually-assaulted-54-under-age-colombian-girls-continue-in-absolute-impunity/" target="_blank">"sex parties" with prostitutes in the same country</a>.</p>
<p>As of yet, the U.S. government has not announced plans to investigate these allegations, despite the official and authoritative nature of the report A <a href="http://forcechange.com/140810/investigate-allegations-of-american-military-sexual-abuse-in-colombia/" target="_blank">petition has started on the website Force Change</a>, urging the Obama Administration to act on the report's findings.</p>
<p>These disturbing allegations reflect the silence around rape within the military’s culture here in United States too. Recent documentary <em><a href="http://www.notinvisible.org/the_movie" target="_blank">The Invisible War</a></em> revealed the armed services as a place where sexual assault is rampant, punishments target victims rather than perpetrators, and offenders advance in the ranks unimpeded while those who suffer assault are often weeded out.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/invisiblewar.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="368" /></p>
<p><em>Coast Guard member and rape survivor Kori Cioca and her husband, Rob, in a sill from the </em>The Invisible War<em>.&nbsp;Credit: Cinedigm/Docurama Films</em></p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/04/pentagon-rand-sexual-assault-reports/19883155/" target="_blank">2014 survey of U.S. military service people</a> found that 20,000 out of 170,000 people had been sexually assaulted within the past year. Of those who'd suffered assaults, one in four filed complaints. While horrific, these numbers sadly marked a sharp improvement from 2012, when 26,000 soldiers reported having been assaulted, and only one in eight made formal complaints.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Charges like those in the Colombia report demonstrate the grim outcome of sending people steeped in sexual violence, and cloaked with immunity, to police another country. Like the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and crimes like the ones Coen and Ruiz are accused of belie the notion of the U.S. military a force for moral good in foreign countries. Instead, once again, members of our forces are said to be carrying out dehumanizing sexually aggressive acts with impunity. &nbsp;</p>
<p>The 54 allegations of rape detailed by Vega in the Colombian report are not the only assaults U.S. forces in the region are said to have committed. Local newspaper <em>El Turbian </em>wrote of 37 additional minors sexually assaulted by military personnel and contractors from the States whose stories, because they could not be independently verified, were not included in the official document.</p>
<p>According to the Colombian government, 7,234 women registered as victims of sex crimes during their country's long conflict, a legacy of violence and suffering the U.S. is sadly a part of, despite refusal to acknowledge it.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To observe the disparity in how those alleged assaults have played out for their assailants and survivors, one need only survey the aftermath of the Coen/Ruiz incident. The family of the girl involved fled the town of Melgar for Medellin soon after the alleged crime became public, saying harassment and threats from U.S. forces made their lives in the town unlivable.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Like the victimized soldiers in <em>The Invisible War</em>, the family received no redress or chance at justice for the violations they claimed occurred. Instead, they were driven out.</p>
<p><em>Related Reading: <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/i-really-thought-i-was-the-only-one-qa-with-military-rape-survivor-kori-cioca" target="_blank">"I Thought I Was the Only One"—An Interview with Military Rape Survivor Kori Cioca</a></em><a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/i-really-thought-i-was-the-only-one-qa-with-military-rape-survivor-kori-cioca" target="_blank">.</a></p>
<p><em><a href="https://twitter.com/@leelaginelle" target="_blank">Leela Ginelle</a> is a trans woman playwright and journalist whose work appears in PQ Monthly, Bitch, and the Advocate.&nbsp;</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/american-troops-allegedly-raped-54-girls-in-colombia-why-havent-we-heard-about-it#commentsmilitaryrapesexual assaultPoliticsWed, 01 Apr 2015 23:27:58 +0000Leela Ginelle31174 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPowerful Film "The Hunting Ground" Takes on Campus Sexual Assaulthttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/powerful-film-the-hunting-ground-takes-on-campus-sexual-assault
<p dir="ltr"><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/hunting_ground.jpg" alt="the hunting ground" width="670" height="411" /></p>
<p dir="ltr">With its harrowing statistics and deeply personal stories from survivors, <em><a href="http://www.thehuntinggroundfilm.com/" target="_blank">The Hunting Ground</a></em>, a new documentary about sexual assault on college campuses, is not an easy film to watch. But it is an important one.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>The Hunting Ground</em> opens with a series of Youtube videos where high school seniors react to their college acceptance letters. They scream, cry, hug their parents and friends as “Pomp and Circumstance” plays in the background. For students admitted into their college of choice, the acceptance letter represents years of hard work paying off. That’s how it felt for Andrea Pino, a second-generation Cuban-American profiled in the film, who was accepted to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2010. But her feelings about the campus radically changed during her sophomore year. After another student raped her at a party, the people she turned to for help or consolation—friends, school administrators—could do nothing for her. Worse, they blamed her for what had happened.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/cb/20/63198eef4835885ef71186c4fb72/the-hunting-ground.jpg" alt="andrea pino" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p style="padding-left: 270px;" dir="ltr"><em>Andrea Pino</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Her story is also the story of Annie Clark, another student at UNC Chapel Hill who was sexually assaulted before her freshman year even began. It’s also the story of Kamilah Willingham, a Harvard student whose rapist was readmitted a year after his expulsion. It’s also Erica Kinsman’s story, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/02/19/erica-kinsman-who-accused-jameis-winston-of-rape-tells-her-story-in-new-documentary-the-hunting-ground/">the Florida State University student who accused star quarterback Jameis Winston of rape</a> and, until the film’s release, has remained anonymous because everyone from school administrators to the police warned her to think twice before pressing charges.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Through these stories, <em>The Hunting Ground</em> builds the argument that universities create a culture of silence around rape wherein students are discouraged from reporting their sexual assault and seeking justice. College is the place where popular culture tells young people they will spend the best years of their lives, but <em>The Hunting Ground </em>suggests a different, disturbing reality: one in which school administrators justify that they stand to lose more financially and reputation-wise by siding with the accuser, especially if the accused happens to be a fraternity member or a student athlete. As several people in the film attest, no college wants to be known as “the one with all the rapists.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since schools have been slow to respond to demands to improve their responses to sexual assault, what can be done? The documentary follows Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, the two UNC Chapel-Hill students failed by the school system, as they researched Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination on college campuses. They filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, arguing among other things that their school’s mishandling of sexual assault cases fosters an unsafe educational environment. When the Department of Education accepted their case, Pino and Clark received emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages from students at other college campuses waging a similar war against their own schools. As they assisted other college groups in drafting complaints, the two women placed circle stickers on a U.S. map to keep track of the reports they received. As of today, approximately 95 colleges are being investigated under Title IX complaints—a map matching the one created by Pino and Clark. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/the_hunting_ground_2.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="215" /></p>
<p dir="ltr">Before<em> The Hunting Ground</em>, producer Amy Ziering and writer/director Kirby Dick investigated sexual assault in the military with the film <em><a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/i-really-thought-i-was-the-only-one-qa-with-military-rape-survivor-kori-cioca" target="_blank">The Invisible War</a>.</em> Like that film, <em>The Hunting Ground</em> arrives in theaters at a timely moment. Americans are discussing and recognizing the rampant sexual assault present on college campuses in ways we never have before—from the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/19/president-obama-launches-its-us-campaign-end-sexual-assault-campus">White House</a> to <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/college/news/a31195/group-aims-to-teach-college-guys-that-consent-is-so-frat/">the frat house</a>. The film condemns the U.S. college system’s mishandling of sexual assault, a reality that’s only now coming into focus for Americans who have long dismissed the issue. For example, the film tells us that in 2012, 45 percent of colleges did not report any sexual assaults. Zero. <em>The Hunting Ground</em> explains that anywhere from 16 to 20 percent of undergrads in the United States are assaulted every year—a statistic that runs smack in the face of a montage of school administrators, university presidents, and news anchors reading prepared statements on how their college takes rape reports “very seriously.” <em>The Hunting Ground </em>ends with a grim statement that “if nothing changes, more than 100,000 students will be sexually assaulted in the coming year.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">I’ve read many rape statistics over the years, so while the information in this film doesn’t feel new, it was presented in a way that hit me harder than just a headline. In one of the film’s more haunting moments, former Harvard University Assistant Dean of Student Life Susan Marine says that “sexual violence has always been part of the college experience.” As one of many people who’d been fired, denied tenure, or was forced to quit because their advocacy for student rape survivors attracted the ire of a school’s bigwigs, Marine acknowledges the sad truth that schools have not done enough to ensure the safety of their students. At the very least, this film should be mandatory viewing for anyone in a position of power at a university.</p>
<p><em>The Hunting Ground</em> succeeds as a damning portrait of how colleges have allowed sexual assault to go unchecked, valuing their own reputations over the lives of vulnerable students. The solutions to sexual assault on campus are varied and complicated but one thing is clear: You will leave <em>The Hunting Ground </em>feeling outraged.</p>
<p><em>Related Reading: <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/i-show-my-school-spirit-by-working-to-end-sexual-assault" target="_blank">I Show My School Spirit By Working to End Sexual Assault.</a></em></p>
<p><em>Ariana Vives is Bitch Media's new media intern.&nbsp;</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/powerful-film-the-hunting-ground-takes-on-campus-sexual-assault#commentscollegedocumentaryrapesexual assaultMoviesMon, 23 Mar 2015 21:20:40 +0000Ariana Vives31060 at http://bitchmagazine.orgVanderbilt Football Player's Attorney Blames "Campus Drinking Culture" for Rapehttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/vanderbilt-football-player-attorney-blames-campus-drinking-culture-for-rape
<p><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4083/5035758649_07750345a6_b.jpg" alt="vanderbilt football team running onto the field" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p><em>A Vanderbilt football game in 2010. Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tncountryfan/5035758649/in/photolist-8EZzAZ-7JWALu-7JSETK-bm317q-bm2ZVN-bm32z1-7JWFj9-byWRoF-byWUWp-br8oWm-bkLVVu-7JSKdp-6nSV9-nias32-eNMVX-nzn86g-34gmJ9-5t97RZ-5u1zGD-5t99HR-8F3Fys-8EZwAg-bm2XCq-hCDpky-34jW4R-byWQst-hCDpch-34pqUo-7cRbSB-34kbdT-7cRbCX-7cR3Xk-7cR7de-7cR6aV-7cR71K-7cR6Sk-59ZCu-oMB3s-5rvW1R-6oz7t-5H5AJb-oMAHp-5x5Cmw-6oz7w-6oz6F-mwdgK-8F3EGY-6oz6R-6oz66-8HLmFu" target="_blank">Larry Darling</a>, via Creative Commons.</em>&nbsp;</p>
<p>[Trigger warning: Sexual assault and rape]&nbsp;</p>
<p>A rape trial began last week in Tennessee <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/sickening-details-emerge-in-vanderbilt-rape-case.html" target="_blank">involving members of the Vanderbilt University football team</a>. While our culture's discussion of sexual assault can, at times, recede into vague generalizations and faceless statistics, this case, with its graphic video and photographic evidence, offers a horrifying reminder of the crime's true nature.</p>
<p>The details of the case are terrible. To add to the trauma of the incident, the tactic of the defense team in the case has been to question the judgment of the victim. The defense attorneys are attempting to use the underage drinking of those involved (the defendants and victim were all under 21 when the incident occurred) to argue that the campus's<em> culture</em> is responsible for their clients' actions—not their clients themselves. <a href="http://jezebel.com/gmas-coverage-of-the-vanderbilt-rape-case-is-hot-butter-1680880279" target="_blank">On <em>Good Morning America </em>this week</a>, the defense attorney pinned blame on “social media, that came in the way of television shows that glamorize and promote sexual activity” for creating a “culture of sex and drinking.”</p>
<p>While anti-rape advocates point to how our culture stigmatizes rape victims and diminishes the seriousness of sexual assault in numerous ways, it’s absurd to argue that people who rape are not liable for their actions because of the nasty culture around them.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/vanderbilt_rape_case.png" alt="ashot of good morning america" width="670" /></p>
<p><em>From Good Morning America: Is a college drinking culture to blame for rape? Nope</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The alleged rape, which occurred on June 23, 2013, involved four football players and one female victim. Surveillance video from Vanderbilt's Gillette Hall dorm shows the men dragging the young woman's unconscious body into a dorm room at 2:30am and then dragging her out again a half hour later. The four men are all charged with raping the woman, but only two—Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey—are on trial in this current case.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What took place in the dorm room, where Vanderburg resided with a roommate, has been pieced together from phone videos sent by Vanderburg to his friends in California, photos seized from three of the men's phones, and the confessions of other two charged men (Jaborian McKenzie and Brandon Banks, each of whom is testifying against Vanderburg and Batey).&nbsp;Additional information has come from the testimony of Vanderburg's roommate and teammate, Mark Prioleau, who was in bed pretending to be asleep during the whole incident, and two other football players who later found the victim lying naked in the dorm hallways outside Vanderburg’s room.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The video footage, which has been shared privately with the jurors, shows one of the men assaulting the unconscious victim—who is alleged to have Vanderburg's girlfriend at the time—as well as calling her a racial epithet. <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/01/19/vandenburg-giggling-during-alleged-rape/22001201/)" target="_blank">According to police testimony</a>, the photos taken from the men's phones reveal at least two of them taking part in the sexual assault.&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of the four teammates who reportedly took part in the attack said it was Vanderburg who instigated the crimes, giving condoms to the others and instructing them to assault the unconscious woman. "He was amped, demanding," McKenzie testified. "He was hyper, like he was coaching us."</p>
<p>None of the three witnesses reported what they'd seen to the police or to any campus or team officials.</p>
<p>Vanderburg and Batey are each charged with five counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Vanderburg faces additional charges of unlawful photography and tampering with evidence—the latter charge stemming from his attempt to disable the camera in the dorm hallway.</p>
<p>According to testimony, the alleged assailants and victim had spent an earlier part of their evening drinking at the Tin Roof, a local bar. Now, the defense team is trying to pin blame for the attack on the victim. On <a href="http://jezebel.com/gmas-coverage-of-the-vanderbilt-rape-case-is-hot-butter-1680880279"><em>Good Morning America</em> this week</a>, the defense attorney said that “everyone made mistakes that night” including the victim. "She drank quite a lot of alcohol," they said. To support their "campus culture" argument, the <a href="http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/12172939/jurors-watch-video-vanderbilt-commodores-rape-trial" target="_blank">defense team points to the fact that no one called police</a> or campus security, despite the fact that bystanders are observed in the surveillance video as her unconscious body is dragged into the room. This, the defense claims, means no one who saw the incident worried that the girl was in danger. As the <a href="http://www.thestate.com/2015/01/15/3930087/jurors-watch-video-in-vanderbilt.html" target="_blank">Associated Press reporter who is attending the trial noted</a>,<em> “</em>The defense appears to be trying to convince jurors that no one would have been concerned for the woman because it was commonplace to see students drunk.”</p>
<p>Such claims are repugnant, however. No amount of alcohol or "sexual promiscuity," to borrow the defense attorneys' term, could excuse or explain actions like those captured on the defendants' phones. These men violated the defendant's body and celebrated &nbsp;doing so. To claim that the Vanderbilt campus culture should excuse such coarse, dehumanizing aggression is insulting to every sexual assault survivor. Attempting to rationalizing the commission of sexual assault through alcohol consumption is no different than blaming a victim's assault on her drinking. Both arguments ignore the act itself, and the actor's responsibility.</p>
<p>The police discovered the Gillette Hall surveillance video when looking into a report of vandalism. This accidental discovery has brought to light the gruesome details of this case.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The tireless work of activists, and the bravery of survivors sharing their stories, has helped raise awareness about the sexual assault crisis on college campuses. While a case like this is difficult to witness, it's hoped that its facts will help increase the urgency felt around this issue. There's a difference between knowing, statistically, that <a href="http://www.oneinfourusa.org/statistics.php" target="_blank">one in four college women experience sexual assault</a> while in school, and knowing what happened to the survivor in this case, a difference between the idea that college men commit rape, and the facts of what Vanderburg, Batey, and their accomplices have allegedly done.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The ugly realities of campus rape are on display in this case, and no amount of hand wringing about alcohol or promiscuity can obscure them.</p>
<p><em>Related Listening: <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/popaganda-episode-feminism-on-campus-student-activism-podcast" target="_blank">Feminism on Campus—Student Activists Campaign Against Sexual Assault.</a> </em>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Leela Ginelle is a trans woman journalist and playwright living in Portland, OR. She contributes regularly to PQ Monthly and Bitch, and her work has also appeared in the Advocate. Follow her at <a href="https://twitter.com/leelaginelle" target="_blank">@leelaginelle</a>.</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/vanderbilt-football-player-attorney-blames-campus-drinking-culture-for-rape#commentsrapevanderbiltSocial CommentaryFri, 23 Jan 2015 22:10:27 +0000Leela Ginelle30182 at http://bitchmagazine.orgRewriting the Rules with Author Elissa Washuta http://bitchmagazine.org/post/interview-elissa-washuta-body-is-a-book-of-rules-feminism
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a style="font-size: 10px;" href="http://washuta.net/" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5558/14910195372_64d850f0b2.jpg" alt="The cover of My Body Is a Book of Rules. A woman with her back to us sits in a tub, looking at a fish head. Disembodied human hands grab at her from different angles. " width="325" height="500" /></a><a href="http://washuta.net/" target="_blank">Elissa Washuta</a> is white and Native, bipolar, and lost her virginity to rape. Her first book, <em>My Body is a Book of Rules</em>, is a modern coming-of-age memoir that reaches into these tangles of the body and mind through American pop culture. “I didn’t want to create just a rape memoir, or a bipolar memoir, just a memoir of one small segment of my life,” she says. “Everything I have experienced has been so intertwined.”&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>My Body is a Book of Rules</em>&nbsp;is&nbsp;not a traditional memoir. Through linked essays set in her early 20s, she tells the story of her bipolar diagnosis and its early treatment alongside “coming around to the fact” that she was raped and then sexually assaulted. She set out to intentionally write a book that couldn’t be easily pinned down, and in doing so has given us an intimate and unflinching look into the nuances of identity and culture. It will be released August 12 from Red Hen Press, and you can check out <a href="http://washuta.net/index.php/book/book-excerpt" target="_blank">an excerpt of the book online.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">Washuta and I sat down over tea one Saturday and, in the company of her longhaired-lover-of-a-cat Dolly, talked about her book. The conversation is condensed and edited for clarity.</p>
<p dir="ltr">
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<p dir="ltr">
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<p dir="ltr"><strong>SAMANTHA UPDEGRAVE: Can you talk about the opening chapter, "A Cascade Autobiography," which is broken into 16 parts that alternate between the other chapters?</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">ELISSA WASHUTA:&nbsp;It’s the backbone. Issues of ancestry and where I came from, the people who compose me, are integral to the rest of the book. It’s one of the only times I really talk about my childhood, so it’s important for it to lay underneath. In an anthropology class about Native Americans, I wrote this essay [as my creative final project] about the fact that I had been raped. That was when I was first really coming to terms with the fact that I had been raped. That was the first nonfiction piece I ever wrote.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It had to be the backbone of the book. Rape culture was intertwined with colonization from the very beginning. Rape of Native women was one of the colonizers’ tools of oppression. None of this is new. This is older than America. When we talk about rape culture in America, we are talking about something that has a legacy wrapped up in the genocide of Native peoples. This does not affect only Native American women; this affects all American women.</p>
<p><img style="float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" src="/sites/default/files/washuta.jpg" alt="A photo of Elissa Washuta" width="300" /></p>
<p><strong>In the final chapter, you write, “My body is not the sum of what’s visible.” Could you talk about that shift from rules being so physical and tactile to being able to soften your grip?</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">The change is about choice. It’s true that my body is broken in a lot of ways, my mind is troubled, and my brain is suffering from an illness, and I keep going through a lot of problematic cycles because of these things. But I’m not stuck in the rulebook. I’m the one who wrote all the rules. Even if someone else wrote all the rules to begin with, they handed the book off to me a long time ago and I’m the one keeping score now. If I don’t like the choice I made, I can make another choice the next minute, or I can choose to disregard that rule. I can make a new rule. I can take a nap.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>You write, “Giving up the insanity hurts, feels like giving up…” In that process of letting go, with all its complexities like medications, what did you find filled in those cracks?</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">Having a new conception of myself, rather than a sufferer, as a maker and a doer. A person who builds things. Who makes tinctures and broth and medicines for herself. When I see myself as a self-healer, that is a powerful replacement for this romantic notion that I used to have of being crazy. There is so much more than taking the drugs my doctor prescribes, and that’s something I’ve learned in the past couple of years. That fills things in. I don’t miss those days anymore, because it feels more complete now to be in control.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>In my early 20s, I was facing a situation that I felt would either destroy me or I had to let it go and move forward. I worried—who will I be without that crazy anger and resentment and so much pain? I’m just going to be dull or boring. You write about the time you start taking your meds, life becomes “sublime and droll and disappointing.” When we make that decision to not let those things control us anymore, and are accepting….</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">There are phases, though. What I’ve learned since writing the book—I started 7 years ago—is that when I was just treating the disorder with the meds, life did seem disappointing and droll, but then when I worked in other ways to care for my body and my brain, I realized it’s not. Life isn’t droll and disappointing. My brain is a pretty busted brain and it takes more than just these shoddy drug company chemicals. I do need herbal measures and really good fats. I need massage. When I work these other things into my life, I have vivid mental experiences that are pretty amazing. That’s something that has happened in the years since finishing the draft of the book. &nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>In&nbsp;</strong><strong>“</strong><strong>Please Him, Part II,</strong><strong>”</strong><strong>&nbsp;you go back to the ideas from an earlier essay where you pray to God and realize that God isn’t going to answer. You write, “I must worship myself first. Loving God takes faith, loving myself takes a different kind. I know at least I am real. But loving myself means knowing I am worth it even when I fall. I am a believer.” Is that language of prayer and faith an important part of how you see yourself, or how you take care of yourself?</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">Yeah, it is. Especially the movement from how I interpreted the teachings of Catholicism as they were given to me. In my school we learned so much about the saints, the virgin martyrs, the hairshirt, giving your life for God, and sacrifice. There was so much about sacrifice. I found that I really had to move away from that. I’m still working on it, but trying to take care of myself and remind myself that it’s important because I’m in need of mending. The upkeep of me is going to take a lot of work and it’s not selfish to take care of myself. If I don’t, I’ll just end up being more and more broken.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about #yesallwomen today. Women are posting their experiences related to misogyny. It’s powerful—people speaking much more openly than they normally would about painful experiences, the collective action of people being seen, sharing these experiences. I’m not a private person. I’m very willing to share these things that happened to me, and the only thing that holds me back is other people’s discomfort. I often find that when I’m describing my book, I am more willing to say that it’s about my early twenties or my bipolar disorder than I am to say it’s about rape because I can see that it makes people uncomfortable. The more we can get stuff out there like this, the more people will be aware that rape is not unusual. There isn’t just one lone rapist out there. These incidents of violence and misogyny happen to women over and over and women feel shamed into not speaking about them.</p>
<p><strong>Other people’s discomfort becomes a mechanism of silencing those voices. And we take that in as our shame.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>Exactly.</p>
<hr />
<p>Read our review of <em>My Body Is a Book of Rules</em> in the book reviews section of the fall issue of <em>Bitch</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Samantha Claire Updegrave is an urban planner, MFA candidate, and an assistant editor for Soundings Review. When not tethered to a desk, she can be found stomping around town with her little 5-year-old T-Rex. Find her online at <a href="http://samanthaupdegrave.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">samanthaupdegrave.wordpress.com</a>, or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/scupdegrave" target="_blank">@scupdegrave</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/interview-elissa-washuta-body-is-a-book-of-rules-feminism#commentsmemoirmental healthrapesexual assaultBooksWed, 13 Aug 2014 21:34:28 +0000Samantha Updegrave26966 at http://bitchmagazine.orgWe're Not "Hysterical" for Talking About Rape Culturehttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/were-not-hysterical-for-talking-about-rape-culture-RAINN-response-feminist
<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8190/8084823206_c0a7bdc716_z.jpg" alt="A protester holds a sign saying &quot;end rape culture.&quot;" width="640" height="424" /></p>
<p>Why does rape happen?</p>
<p>Because a rapist chooses to rape someone. Because someone felt so entitled to sex, they didn’t care whether their selected partner was able or willing to consent. No one is disagreeing there. But why does that choice happen? Where does that sense of entitlement come from?</p>
<p>If you ask RAINN or <em>TIME&nbsp;</em>magazine, they wouldn’t be able to give you an answer. Or, perhaps, they would say it doesn’t matter why. Earlier this month, RAINN—the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization—wrote <a href="http://www.rainn.org/news-room/rainn-urges-white-house-task-force-to-overhaul-colleges-treatment-of-rape" target="_blank">recommendations for a White House task force on sexual assault</a>&nbsp;that included a line about how in recent years, there has been an “unfortunate trend towards blaming ‘rape culture’" for sexual violence on college campuses. “While it is helpful to point out the systemic barriers to addressing the problem, it is important to not lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime,” read the recommendations. <em>TIME </em>followed up with an article announcing, <a href="http://time.com/30545/its-time-to-end-rape-culture-hysteria/" target="_blank">“It’s time to end ‘rape culture’ hysteria.”</a></p>
<p>If you ask me though, or many people working to end sexual violence, we’d tell you that the choice to commit rape happens because we live in a world that supports and condones non-consensual sex in many ways every day.&nbsp; We live in a culture that makes sex a zero-sum game—something women are expected to perform, and then protect. Something men are expected to relentlessly desire, and then take.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The theory of rape culture gives us a way to understand why sexual violence happens. It tasks us not with pointing fingers at false problems, but with working together to change our society.</p>
<p>We may very well live in a culture where almost everyone—outwardly, at least—agrees that rape is wrong. But we also live in a culture that doesn’t understand, on a very basic level, what rape really is. And apparently, one of the best-known anti-sexual violence organizations doesn’t have the ability to understand the nuance of why that’s true.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What RAINN gets wrong in their assertion is the idea that rape culture provides distraction from the real goal of holding rapists accountable. No one I have ever met who understands rape culture disagrees that rapists need to be held responsible more often. While&nbsp;<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/10/2597861/united-nations-rape-study-asia/#" target="_blank">one in four men globally say they’ve forced a woman to have sex</a>&nbsp;against her will, only 23 percent have been punished. When we talk about rape culture, we <em>are</em> talking about holding rapists accountable. We're talking about the reasons that rapists are so frequently exonerated, the reasons rapists feel comfortable committing more crimes, the reasons that rape goes unreported, and the ways that victims are blamed for the choices made by rapists. When we talk about rape culture, we’re talking about the “why” and we're saying that every one of us is responsible for holding rapists accountable.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rapists are primarily at fault for rape, but we all have a role in changing the reasons and ways rape is allowed, excused, and misunderstood.</p>
<p>My disappointment with RAINN’s recommendations isn’t that they want to focus more intensively on holding rapists accountable. I, too, wish the criminal justice system, campus administrations, and all systems that impact survivors had a clearer understanding of sexual violence and were better at holding rapists accountable. I wish there were better systems for dealing with rape than just telling survivors to go to the police and putting rapists in jail. We know that those institutions often fail at accountability and fail survivors. The theory of rape culture helps us understand why that is. Talking about rape culture is not hysterical. It gives us a frame for dismantling the ways our society supports rapists, and it tasks us all with changing them.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the White House will hear that loud and clear.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><a href="https://twitter.com/meganchristinet" target="_blank">Megan Kovacs</a>&nbsp;</em><em>works in Portland, OR on domestic and sexual violence prevention and&nbsp;</em><em>coordinates <a href="http://raphaelhouse.com/" target="_blank">Raphael House of Portland</a>'s education program.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><em>Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasecarter/8084823206/sizes/z/" target="_blank">Chase Carter via Creative Commons</a>.</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/were-not-hysterical-for-talking-about-rape-culture-RAINN-response-feminist#commentsactivismrapereproductive rightsPoliticsThu, 27 Mar 2014 00:08:24 +0000Megan Kovacs25530 at http://bitchmagazine.orgOn Our Radar: Feminist News Rounduphttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-feminist-news-roundup-125
<p><em>Here's the news on my radar today:</em></p>
<p>• Alpine skier&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/olympics/wp/2014/02/20/ukraine-athletes-leave-sochi-olympics-reportedly-in-protest/" target="_blank">Bogdana Matsotska has dropped out of Olympic competition</a>&nbsp;in protest of the violence in her home country of Ukraine. "I hope I will be heard by the world," she says. [Washington Post]</p>
<p>• Arizona's legislature passed a bill allowing private&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=280509497&amp;ft=1&amp;f=" target="_blank">businesses to discriminate against</a>&nbsp;people so long as they can justify their discrimination based on "sincere religious beliefs." [NPR]&nbsp;</p>
<p>• Michele Bachmann says the US doesn't have a "pent-up desire" for a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/michele-bachmann-female-president-103731.html#ixzz2tyeDCKYp" target="_blank">female president</a>. She went on to say she thinks people elected Obama out of guilt, but that "people don't hold guilt for a woman." Ack. [Politico]</p>
<p>• Oregon's Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Thursday she&nbsp;<a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/02/20/oregon_wont_defend_gay_marriage_ban_in_lawsuit/" target="_blank">will not defend the state's ban on gay marriage</a>,&nbsp;saying that it couldn't withstand a federal constitutional challenge. [Salon]&nbsp;</p>
<p>• Some people had a disturbing reaction the to rape charges against&nbsp;<a href="http://jezebel.com/calling-darren-sharper-too-sexy-to-rape-is-goddamn-ri-1526955329?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&amp;utm_source=jezebel_facebook&amp;utm_medium=socialflow" target="_blank">NFL star Darren Sharper</a>: they&nbsp;say he is "too sexy" to rape someone, despite accusations that evidence that he drugged and raped at least seven women. [Jezebel]</p>
<p>• American Eagle Outfitters has announced that they will&nbsp;<a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/79647/american-eagle-won-t-photoshop-models-but-this-isn-t-what-girls-really-look-like" target="_blank">stop photoshopping models</a>&nbsp;for their lingerie line. [ThinkProgress]</p>
<p>• A&nbsp;<em>Guardian&nbsp;</em>reporter mistakenly&nbsp;identified Patrick Stewart as gay&nbsp;after he publicly supported Ellen Page earlier this week.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/19/patrick-stewart-outed-gay_n_4814994.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009" target="_blank">His response was pretty funny</a>. [Huffington Post]</p>
<p><em>Did we miss something on your radar? Tell us about it in the comments.</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-feminist-news-roundup-125#commentsMichele BachmannOlympicsphotoshoprapeNewsFri, 21 Feb 2014 18:10:12 +0000Erica Thomas25240 at http://bitchmagazine.orgDylan Farrow's Letter Tells Us What Our Culture Needs to Learn: To Believe Survivors. http://bitchmagazine.org/post/dylan-farrows-letter-tells-us-what-our-culture-needs-to-learn-to-believe-survivors
<p class="p1" style="padding-left: 90px;"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3748/12295101224_a81a3f75b6_o.jpg" alt="Dylan Farow" width="480" height="447" /></p>
<p class="p1" style="padding-left: 90px;">This photo of Dylan Farrow, by Frances Silver, ran with her open letter in the <em>New York Times.</em></p>
<p class="p1">Dylan Farrow, daughter of filmmaker Woody Allen, did an incredibly brave thing this weekend: She <a href="http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/an-open-letter-from-dylan-farrow/" target="_blank">told the story of how Woody Allen sexually abused her when she was seven</a>. In doing so, she is actively resisting our cultural dictates about sexual assault, which encourage silence, shame, and denial.</p>
<p class="p1">The allegations against Woody Allen have often been discussed—Farrow's brother <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/01/ronan-farrow-tweets-woody-allen-golden-globes" target="_blank">Ronan succinctly pointed out</a> how the abuse was left out of Allen's Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award highlight reel this year—but this is the first time that Farrow has published her story.</p>
<p class="p1">Appearing in <em>The New York Times</em> both in print and online, Farrow’s letter is honest, powerful, and damning of our entire mainstream cultural response to sexual assault. “What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?” she opens. “Before you answer, you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me.”</p>
<p class="p1">Farrow tells us how the train incident was the culmination of a long string of abuses by Allen; why the abuse seemed normal to her and why she finally told her mother; how the ongoing veneration of her father silenced her (“It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were a way to tell me to shut up and go away”); and how our culture—the media, entertainment industry, court system, and medical professionals—have failed her and others like her. "Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse," she writes. “Sexual abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing to attack my credibility. There were doctors willing to gaslight an abused child.”&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Farrow’s story is, rage-inducingly, a common one, only remarkable in that her family is famous. Farrow's experience happens to a jaw-dropping number of children and teenagers: <a href="http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims" target="_blank">one in six women</a>&nbsp;in America experience sexual assault and 44 percent of victims are under age 18. The cultural response to the initial "allegations" against Woody Allen, and now Farrow coming forward, is only a hyper-magnified example of how our society treats survivors who tell the truth about what happened to them.</p>
<p class="p1">You needn't look far to see the culture of denial that is hard at work when survivors come forward to tell the truth about what happened to them. Nicholas Kristof, the <em>New York Times </em>columnist who published Farrow's open letter and wrote his Sunday column about it, is trying to support Farrow but writes that "Allen’s defenders correctly note that he denies the allegations, has never been convicted and should be presumed innocent." Melissa McEwan of <em>Shakesville </em><a href="http://www.shakesville.com/2014/02/dylan-farrow-rape-apologia-rape-culture.html" target="_blank">hits the nail on the head</a> about Kristof's apologist stance: "He deserves the presumption of innocence" has absolutely no place in an introduction to a survivor's story for this simple reason: "He deserves the presumption of innocence" is fundamentally incompatible with "She deserves to be believed." Which, of course, she does.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Robert B. Weide, executive producer of the popular HBO show <em>Curb Your Enthusiasm </em>and director of a PBS documentary about Woody Allen, recently published an article titled <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/27/the-woody-allen-allegations-not-so-fast.html" target="_blank">"The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast"</a> on <em>The Daily Beast </em>(it appeared before her open letter in <em>The New York Times </em>but he tweeted on Sunday essentially that he stands by everything he wrote). Weide's piece is purportedly an informed, nuanced "weighing in" on the allegations that Allen sexually abused his daughter. But the article is actually just a very long apologia for Allen. For example, Weide skeptically notes that he's observed Allen with his daughters, and he doesn't really seem like a child molester:</p>
<blockquote><p class="p1">"The only parent-child tensions I’ve been privy to are that his girls think their father’s mean for not letting them have a dog, and that he’s an idiot for not knowing how to work a computer. Lest anyone accuse me of being in Woody’s pocket, I’ll confess that I side with his kids on both counts."</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">Weide is not at all "blaming the victim," he says. "I’m merely floating scenarios to consider, and you can think what you will." Weide is skeptical about the veracity of Dylan's allegations, because:</p>
<blockquote><p class="p2">"It means that in the middle of custody and support negotiations, during which Woody needed to be on his best behavior, in a house belonging to his furious ex-girlfriend, and filled with people seething mad at him, Woody, who is a well-known claustrophobic, decided this would be the ideal time and place to take his daughter into an attic and molest her, quickly, before a house full of children and nannies noticed they were both missing."</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">Only in a culture of denial and shame about child sexual abuse can it seem reasonable (and printable) that Weide "floats different scenarios" based on his own assumptions about how sexual assault happens and by whom.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">On the same day Farrow published her open letter, <em>The Hollywood Reporter </em>ran an article headlined <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/dylan-farrows-op-ed-targets-676339" target="_blank">"Dylan Farrow's Op-Ed Targets Woody Allen But Could Hurt Cate Blanchett More."</a> The article opens:&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p class="p2">"Is Cate Blanchett's best actress Oscar for her performance in Woody Allen's <em>Blue Jasmine </em>as assured as most people believe? Probably—but being called out on the New York Times' website for associating with an alleged child molester certainly won't help her cause."</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">The implication is clear: we're not so much worried about the survivor of sexual assault, but other people and their careers. It's reminiscent of television newscasters worrying about the poor teenage boys in Steubenville whose lives were going to be ruined because they'd sexually assaulted a teenage girl and weren't going to get away with it.</p>
<p class="p1">According to Weide, the whole thing is "a hornet's nest that had remained somewhat dormant over the past 20 years." And, for Woody Allen, the "accusations were old business."</p>
<p class="p1">So how has Farrow been doing all these years? Has it been, for her, a hornet's nest lain dormant, old business? As she writes in her recent letter:&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p2">"That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls. I was terrified of being touched by men. I developed an eating disorder. I began cutting myself." Last year, Farrow was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). "Each time I saw my abuser’s face—on a poster, on a t-shirt, on television—I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone and fall apart."</p>
<p class="p1">Last year, my brave, beloved partner was also diagnosed with PTSD as a result of years of childhood sexual abuse. "When I tell people I've been diagnosed with PTSD, they assume I was in the military. They don't understand it," she told me a few days before Farrow published her open letter.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">My experience has been that people don't know how sexual abuse in childhood can impact a person into adulthood. I certainly didn't understand it. When my partner had what many would have called a breakdown last year, I struggled to understand. I, like the culture I live in, was in denial. When she had hours-long panic attacks that Valium couldn't touch, I anxiously wrung my hands in confusion and resentment.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">"Are you cold?" I would ask her. No, she would say. "Then why are you trembling uncontrollably? I don't understand." I wanted it to stop, because it scared me, because I didn't understand what was happening.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">One morning at 5 a.m., after hours of uncontrollable trembling, sweating, and writhing on our bed, she asked me to take her to the emergency room. The ER doctor essentially told my partner to get a grip. I hadn't slept all night and was crying from exhaustion. "Look at your partner," said the doctor. "Look at what this is doing to her." The ER doctor, like the rest of society, wanted my partner's PTSD symptoms to Just. Stop. Already.</p>
<p class="p1">I didn't understand then, as I do now, how the body can lock up trauma, bury it deep inside you to protect you, and how that tightly-locked capsule can burst years later and leave you writhing in panic on the bathroom floor, trembling violently from head to toe. I wish I had understood it then. I would’ve been better equipped to support her from the get-go, rather than having to learn alongside her as we both struggled to understand how her vomiting every morning for two years in her 20s was actually directly linked to things that had happened nearly two decades ago. And how denial and shame can make the original trauma happen “over and over and over again, because it’s never set free,” as my partner put it.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">One of the bright, glaring, non-negotiable truths I <em>have </em>learned, though, is to <em>believe survivors. </em>Believe them, even if they don't remember everything. Believe them, even if they remember almost nothing. Believe them, even if the person they say raped them seems like the nicest person in the world to you. Believe them, even if it shatters your whole world to do so. Believe them, even if they don’t want to share details, or press charges, or ever talk about it again. Believe them, even if their story sounds implausible to you. Believe them, even if you don't want to, even if it breaks your heart.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Why, even after Farrow has bravely told us in painstaking detail what happened to her, do we still have a cultural propensity to insinuate she is lying to us? Why is it so much easier to believe that Mia Farrow would “brainwash” Dylan into thinking she was abused as part of a custody battle revenge plot than to believe she is yet another survivor of an epidemic of sexual violence? Why are people <em>still</em> calling Weide’s pile of B.S. on The Daily Beast “thoughtful” and “interesting” and “terrific” and “persuasive” <em>after the person Woody Allen sexually abused told us what happened to her</em>?&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">In Dylan Farrow’s case, we are doubly primed to disbelieve her: first, because she is daring to speak out in a climate that is hostile for survivors, and second, because her father is famous and well-liked. As Farrow notes in her open letter, money, fame and power will protect sexual assailants even when the person they sexually assaulted shouts from the rooftops the truth of what happened. Woody Allen fans don’t want to believe he sexually abused his daughter because they want to keep on loving his movies and want him to keep making them. And Hollywood, like its fans, has largely given Allen a pass and continued to reward him. Farrow rightly takes big-name celebrities like Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin to task for helping send the wrong message about child sexual abuse: “the message that Hollywood sends matters …for others [who] are still scared, vulnerable, and struggling for the courage to tell the truth.”&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Mainstream U.S. culture teaches us to do our very best to deny the horrors of child sexual abuse. <em>Mother Jones, </em><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2014/02/dylan-farrow-woody-allen-open-letter-nytimes-sexual-abuse" target="_blank">in their piece about Dylan's open letter</a>, said her story "wasn't easy to get through." Of course it's not. Of course we want to deny the things that happen to children that should never happen to them—should never happen to anyone, no matter their age. It's absolutely and completely heartbreaking, and we should fight like hell to make sure it never happens. But if it does, and a survivor tells us what happened to them, we need to quit it with the traumatizing apologist denials and learn how to say, “I believe you.”</p>
<p class="p1"><em>Caitlin Carmody is a writer, activist, and student who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/dylan-farrows-letter-tells-us-what-our-culture-needs-to-learn-to-believe-survivors#commentsrapesexual abuseSocial CommentaryMon, 03 Feb 2014 22:05:20 +0000Caitlin Carmody25075 at http://bitchmagazine.orgOn Our Radar: Feminist News Rounduphttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/feminist-news-roundup
<p><em>Here's all the news that's on our radar today!</em></p>
<p>• Illinois becomes the&nbsp;<a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-05/news/chi-gay-marriage-chicago-20131105_1_bernard-cherkasov-marriage-bill-equality-illinois" target="_blank">15th state to allow same-sex marriages</a>! [Chicago Tribune]</p>
<p>• Germany’s new third-gender law that gives an alternative to declaring babies male or female on their birth certificates may seem positive, but it was not written with any input from intersex activists and <a href="http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/11/06/op-ed-germany’s-third-gender-law-fails-equality" target="_blank">it may actually put intersex babies in more danger</a>. [The Advocate]&nbsp;</p>
<p>• La Luz, a great female surf band that <em>Bitch</em> reviewed for our next print issue,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/949726-129/band-luz-neumos-van-accident-fans" target="_blank">was in a serious car accident</a>&nbsp;this week, totaling their van, destroying their gear, and causing injuries to the band members. If you want to help them out, they have a Paypal account set up&nbsp;<a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=n_CSQm-Uu1U-17AsQFUpNFdxgUwp9RcJNTAgJm68DeFVpE11arUBHk029nG&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63" target="_blank">here</a>. [Seattle Weekly]</p>
<p>• If you’re in New York, you can&nbsp;<a href="http://events.newschool.edu/event/black_female_voices_who_is_listening#.UnqdxxbaZUT" target="_blank">go see bell hooks and Melissa Harris-Perry</a>&nbsp;talk about “race, black womanhood, politics, media, and love.” Sounds like a talk you won’t want to miss! [The New School]</p>
<p>• Are young workers entering a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/surviving-post-employment-economy-201311373243740811.html" target="_blank">post-employment economy that values profit over people</a>? [Al Jazeera]</p>
<p>• The Human Rights Campaign’s recently announced that they’re going international – but are they just going to end up doing “colonialism done in the name of saviorism”?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autostraddle.com/hrcs-international-expansion-funded-by-the-worst-humans-is-the-worst-203622/" target="_blank">Here’s a breakdown of why the HRC is not the best LGBT organization to reach out</a>. [Autostraddle]</p>
<p>• So, it turns out that at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.3news.co.nz/Roast-Busters-victim-asked-to-re-enact-alleged-rape/tabid/423/articleID/320311/Default.aspx#.UnvxtZTF2aJ" target="_blank">least two 13-year-old girls did in fact come forward&nbsp;<em>two years ago</em>&nbsp;to report alleged rapes</a>&nbsp;by the New Zealand “Roast Busters,” but the were made to feel it was their fault and their complaints were dismissed by police. [3 News]</p>
<p>• 2013 marks a historical high point for black-centric films, but <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/oprah-winfrey-black-films_n_4225847.html?ref=topbar" target="_blank">that number should be Hollywood’s regular output, not an anomaly</a>. [HuffPost]</p>
<p>• Read up on the&nbsp;<a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/11/immigration_activists_continue_to_fight_on_all_fronts.html" target="_blank">all the work that immigration activists have been doing lately</a>. [ColorLines]</p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3832/10714327223_69d18a67de.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="328" /></p>
<p><em>What's on your radar? Share in the comments!</em></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/feminist-news-roundup#commentsimmigrationLGBTRacerapeNewsThu, 07 Nov 2013 16:39:49 +0000Arielle Yarwood24552 at http://bitchmagazine.orgOn Our Radar: Today's Feminist News Roundup, "You Don't Say!" Editionhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-todays-feminist-news-roundup-you-dont-say-edition
<p>Happy Friday! It's time for another special edition of our daily roundup, this time of news that is both unsurprising and deeply, thoroughly depressing. Get ready to be simultaneously weary and outaged!</p>
<p>• In the wake of the stories about the Maryville, Missouri rape of two teen girls, plenty of people are wiling to assume that the girls <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/17/fox-news-guest-blames-missouri-teen-im-not-saying-she-deserved-to-be-raped-but/" target="_blank">aren't rape survivors so much as they are drunken, lying sluts</a>. YOU DON'T SAY? [Raw Story]</p>
<p>• Daisy Coleman, the teen at the center of the case, tells the story in her own words. It's <a href="http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape?utm_medium=facebook" target="_blank">much more nuanced than any of the media coverage thus far</a>, and, of course, just as heartbreaking. (Trigger warning? You don't say!) [xoJane]</p>
<p>• Sexual harassment is legion in fields dominated by men? You don't say! This week, <em>Scientific American</em> continues to not be able to catch a break as <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131017-sexual-harassment-bora-sexism-journalism-culture-science/" target="_blank">stories of harassment</a> <a href="https://medium.com/the-power-of-harassment/857e2f71059a" target="_blank">perpetrated by SciAm blog editor</a> Bora Zivkovic are filling <a href="https://medium.com/the-power-of-harassment/3e809dfadd77" target="_blank">the Internet</a>. [National Geographic, Medium]</p>
<p>• In related news, <em>Slate</em>'s Emily Yoffe really thought she was dropping a truth bomb when she penned this article <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/10/sexual_assault_and_drinking_teach_women_the_connection.html" target="_blank">telling college women not to drink.</a> Women are more likely to experience rape when alcohol is involved? Wow, Emily, you don't say. Hey, here's what else is involved when women are raped: <a href="http://feministing.com/2013/10/16/emily-yoffe-aka-dear-prudence-publishes-rape-denialism-manifesto-tells-women-point-blank-to-stop-getting-drunk-to-avoid-rape/" target="_blank">rapists.</a> [Slate, Feministing]</p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/new-york-comic-con-harassment/" target="_blank">Overt sexism at a comic con? </a>You don't say! (Added reminder: If you're a nerd who's throughly over this bullshit, you probably already know that <a href="http://www.geekgirlcon.com/" target="_blank">this weekend is Geek Girl Con</a>, but I'm going to mention it anyway because it's one of the few cons where entitlement to female bodies isn't billed as a selling point.)</p>
<p>• The same charmer who started the "sugar dating" websites <em>Bitch</em> covered in the Gray Issue <a href="http://betabeat.com/2013/10/charming-new-app-encourages-men-to-bribe-women-with-plastic-surgery-to-get-dates/" target="_blank">has a new dating app that just bascially encourages men to bribe their way into dates with women?</a> You don't say! The app is called Carrot (because women are basically horses, if you didn't know), and lets potential daters offer things like jewelry, concert tickets, and plastic surgery. [BetaBeat]</p>
<p>All right then! Enjoy your Friday, and, as ever, let us know what your're reading in the comments!</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-todays-feminist-news-roundup-you-dont-say-edition#commentsdoucherynews mediaonline datingrapesexual harassmentNewsFri, 18 Oct 2013 15:53:08 +0000Andi Zeisler24403 at http://bitchmagazine.orgMother and Daughter Take to CNN to Demand Justice in Rape Casehttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/mother-and-daughter-take-to-cnn-to-demand-justice-in-rape-case
<p><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3669/10303092094_876e6e57ec_o.jpg" alt="Marysvillw High School sign" width="525" height="333" /></p>
<p>A victim of sexual assault should be able to get a fair investigation without having to plead her case on national media.</p>
<p>But after prosecutors in the Missouri town of Marysville dropped rape and sexual exploitation charges against two locals, a teen girl and her mom are speaking out with the hope that media pressure will lead the state to reopen the case. Melinda Coleman and her teenage daughter Daisy—who decided to not remain anonymous and go public about the incident—appeared on CNN last night. In the meantime, they've been harassed and feel they’ve been forced out of the town they lived in.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Their case is a grim reminder that <a href="http://bit.ly/15VVYdS" target="_blank">incidents like Steubenville</a> are not as exceptional as we’d like to believe they are.&nbsp; The <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/10/12/4549775/nightmare-in-maryville-teens-sexual.html" target="_blank"><em>Kansas City Star</em> reported</a> the full details of this case, but the basics sound familiar: two teenage girls were drinking to the point of blacking out and were then assaulted by older boys, including 17-year-old football player Matthew Barnett. The assault was filmed by Barnett’s friend. When the girl and her mom pursued rape charges, the boys were questioned but the case was quickly dropped. There are other horrible details that the family lays out on CNN.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<object width="416" height="234" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ep_928"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2013/10/14/exp-erin-intv-coleman-missouri-rape-case.cnn&contentId=bestoftv/2013/10/14/exp-erin-intv-coleman-missouri-rape-case.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2013/10/14/exp-erin-intv-coleman-missouri-rape-case.cnn&contentId=bestoftv/2013/10/14/exp-erin-intv-coleman-missouri-rape-case.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="234"></embed></object><p>The young men admitted to police that they had "sex" with the girls. Barnett said what happened was consensual, but under Missouri law, you cannot have consensual sex if someone is incapacitated by alcohol.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"Mr. Barnett cooperated with the investigation and freely admitted to the sexual encounter," said Barnett family lawyer Robert Sundell. "While many find Matt Barnett's behavior reprehensible, the legal issue was whether a crime was committed.”</p>
<p>It's worth noting the <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/10/12/4549775/nightmare-in-maryville-teens-sexual.html" target="_blank">headline of the <em>Kansas City Star</em> article</a> about this case: “Nightmare in Marysville: Teens’ sexual encounter ignites firestorm against family.” Not a firestorm against the family of Barnett, who is the grandson of a state representative, but against the Coleman family. When they pursued the case, Daisy was bullied at school and Melinda was let go from her job in what she believes was a retaliatory firing. Then, prosecutors dropped the charges, saying that Daisy’s story was unreliable and that the Coleman family refused to cooperate with the prosecution—which the Colemans say is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Daisy attempted suicide twice. Eventually, the Colemans felt like they had to move out of town. After they moved, their old house in Marysville burned down.</p>
<p>It’s sad how many other awful cases this one brings to mind.&nbsp;<em>The Atlantic&nbsp;</em>pointed out the similarities between this and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/10/family-driven-maryville-missouri-home-after-teen-sex-scandal/70489/" target="_blank">the cases of Rehtaeh Parsons and Audrie Pott</a>, two teen girls who killed themselves after being harassed after reporting they were raped. Feministing says its&nbsp;<a href="http://feministing.com/2013/10/14/steubenville-by-another-name/" target="_blank">“Steubenville by another name.”</a>&nbsp;It certainly seems like a case where instead of having the justice system work to support a victim, it has only led to feelings of anger alienation.</p>
<p>Media is powerful. Would Steubenville authorities have taken the rape case there seriously if they&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/1099Css" target="_blank">hadn’t found themselves uncomfortably in the national spotlight</a>? For every victim who is able to speak out on CNN, how many have their cases swept under the carpet?&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Photo of Marysville High School from the <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/10/12/4549775/nightmare-in-maryville-teens-sexual.html" target="_blank">Kansas City Star</a>.</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/mother-and-daughter-take-to-cnn-to-demand-justice-in-rape-case#commentsmediarapeSteubenvilleNewsWed, 16 Oct 2013 03:17:29 +0000Sarah Mirk24379 at http://bitchmagazine.org